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Chinese Nokia workers protest at Microsoft deal

Hundreds fear worsening conditions.

Hundreds of workers massed outside a Nokia factory in southern China today to protest against what they called unfair treatment following the sale of the company's mobile phones business to Microsoft.

Lack of trust in employers has often led Chinese workers to balk at takeovers they fear will worsen employment conditions, and the confrontation in the industrial city of Dongguan marked the latest incident in a wave of industrial unrest at Chinese affiliates of foreign manufacturing firms.

Workers outside the factory gates said they were battling to change new contracts offering them worse employment terms that they said they had been forced to sign after the September deal between the US software giant and the Finnish handset maker.

"We will definitely continue to fight until we get what's fair," said Zhang, a young male worker who gave only his surname.

Riot police beat up four workers and took them away, several witnesses told Reuters.

Nokia said in a statement interaction between protesters and police had been "restrained (and) peaceful", and the company was continuing to talk to the protesters.

"Our manufacturing operations in Dongguan continue," it said. "To accommodate the temporary situation, we have also adjusted our operations in other manufacturing facilities."

Six protesters interviewed by Reuters said they had not heard from management.

"They won't do anything until things reach a critical stage," said another worker who gave only his surname, Yang, and said he had worked at the factory for two years.

Denials

The precise nature of the employees' grievances was not immediately clear, but an industry source said Nokia had balked at what it saw as a demand for severance packages to workers who would retain their jobs under Microsoft.

The source said he did not expect lay-offs at the 5000-worker plant as a result of the deal with Microsoft, and denied claims from factory workers that the Microsoft deal affected the pay of thousands of employees.

Nokia, which declined to elaborate on its statement, agreed in September to sell its devices and services business and license its patents to Microsoft after failing to recover from a late start in smartphones.

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